La reflexión meta-discursiva como función comunicativa en el proceso de construcción de discursos de cambio social en un grupo de mujeres [The meta-discursive awareness as communicative function …]

Abstract

This paper analyses the function of metadiscursive reflexion or awareness (a notion related with Bateson’s metacommunicative, 1972) in an Ecuadorian women’s group’s discussion about its disagreement with the Government on the economic issue known as ‘solidarity economy and finance’. The key point in this discussion is whether or not the perspective of gender must be included in the new law of economy and social finance. The pragmaticargumentative analysis of the most relevant discursive resources reveals that this metadiscursive awareness accomplishes two subfunctions: 1) the recontextualization of previous cognitive frames; and 2) the construction of new frames (reframings) that defend in a more creative way the inclusion of the gender perspective in the alluded law. Some of these frames provide different perspective to the ones previous used to describe the structural poverty of Ecuadorian women; and one of them calls for the development of the sumak kawsay mythical creation, the motto of the new constitution. From the theoretical-methodological perspective, I reflect on this metadiscursive function as part of the creative process of discourses of social change and on the constructivist perspective in the study of them.